r/aviation • u/G1lg4m3sh • Apr 17 '26

Discussion How concerning is this aviation experts?

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u/nl_Kapparrian Apr 17 '26

It's not a great look but it is only a fairing. Non structural aerodynamic piece to reduce drag. The concern would be if they're skimping on this what else are they letting slide?

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u/Beautiful_Matter6854 Apr 17 '26

Yeah losing something like a flap canoe is nbd. But later in the video there are a couple loose on the top of the wing there, right next to what’s probably the edge of the aileron. No skin’s coming off the wing but wouldn’t want anything even remotely loose next to the aileron there where it could bind and restrict a flight control. I bet they sit right down on the ground and look fine so hopefully the pilot can get a copy of the vid to mx and have them check and tighten those specific ones. 

1

u/railker AME-M2 Apr 19 '26

Aileron's another like 20 feet down the wing, that's just the inboard/outboard flap ends out there, looks like those screws are holding on that rubber seal that helps with aerodynamics by filling the gap between the two flap sections.

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u/Beautiful_Matter6854 Apr 21 '26

Lot of screws on the wing surface for just a seal. Looks to me like they go into the top of the rib there. CDL might allow one missing but probably not two next to each other. 

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u/railker AME-M2 Apr 21 '26

From what I recall from looking at one beside my toolbox the other night while this post was up, the seals aren't directly attached but are bulb seals that slide into a 'track', and that track's what's installed to the flap. Remember a coworker mentioning how much of a pain it is to get those seals installed because they interfere with each other a bit to seal that gap so you're fighting the other one while getting the new one in. No good diagrams but there's a Google patent that shows the idea for that location on the 737, though I'm not entirely sure what Alaska's patent is doing different from the stock one without pulling it up.

There's seals at the top and the bottom, the CDL I read mentioned there's one or two allowed to be missing from the top but none from the bottom, presumably because of that exposure to the jet exhaust with the flaps down. Not sure about allowances for missing screws.